Abstract
Objective: When examining cooked rice by videofluoroscopic examination of swallowing (VF), we usually use cooked rice pasted with the powder or liquid of barium sulfate as a test food for VF. However, the appearance, texture and taste of the test food rice are quite different from those of real cooked rice, so it is difficult to know the patient’s real swallowing function of cooked rice. In the present study, we tried to make cooked rice containing the contrast medium with as similar characteristics to real rice as possible.
Materials and Methods: As a contrast medium, non-ionic water soluble iodine (Iodine) was used. The method of preparing the cooked rice including the contrast media was as follows:
① Rice (10 g)＋Iodine (10 ml)＋Water (10 ml)
② Rice (20 g)＋Iodine (10 ml)＋Water (20 ml)
③ Cooked rice (12 g) ＋Barium sulfate (8 g)＋Water (2 ml)
④ Rice (10 g)＋Water (20 ml)
We examined the penetration of Iodine in a grain of rice by fluorescence X-ray analysis. The radiographic image of the test rice was taken with a phantom and then the visibility was evaluated. The texture of the grain of rice was also measured. The texture of the Iodine rice was evaluated and compared with that of the control.
Results: The image of rice ① showed sufficient enhancement to evaluate the swallowing function, but that of ② was not enough to visualize the rice. The textures of rice ① and ② showed a wide range, and their adhesiveness was higher than that of the control rice.
Conclusion: We developed a test food in which the contrast medium was infused in rice grains. This test food rice has good contrast and similar texture to real rice.
